Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has blocked legislation proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that would ban the TikTok app from U.S. mobile devices.
“This legislation not only violates the First Amendment of those who own TikTok, many of whom are actually Americans, not Chinese,” Paul said. “But it also violates the First Amendment rights of the millions of young Americans who use this social media app.”
Paul said that there is no difference between TikTok’s behavior and the behavior of other Big Tech social media corporations as he blocked Hawley’s attempt to fast track the legislation on Wednesday.
“Every accusation of data gathering that’s been attributed to TikTok could also be attributed to domestic big tech companies,” said Paul, who added that banning TikTok could make the Republican Party even more hated by young people.